Man who fatally stabbed his mother said he acted in self-defense

Thursday

Jul 10, 2014 at 12:01 AMJul 11, 2014 at 10:49 AM

A man who disregarded his attorney's advice to plead guilty to killing his mother took the stand yesterday at the tail-end of his trial in Franklin County Common Pleas Court and told the jury that he acted in self-defense. Robert L. Lindsey IV, 20, is charged with aggravated murder and murder in connection with the Feb. 20, 2013, stabbing death of 41-year-old Latonia Banner. Prosecutors said the attack was so vicious that the knife was bent in the assault.

Theodore Decker, The Columbus Dispatch

A man who disregarded his attorney’s advice to plead guilty to killing his mother took the stand yesterday at the tail-end of his trial in Franklin County Common Pleas Court and told the jury that he acted in self-defense.

Robert L. Lindsey IV, 20, is charged with aggravated murder and murder in connection with the Feb. 20, 2013, stabbing death of 41-year-old Latonia Banner. Prosecutors said the attack was so vicious that the knife was bent in the assault.

There has been no dispute in the trial before Judge Julie Lynch about who killed Banner at her Northeast Side town house. But defense attorneys said Lindsey, a senior at New Albany High School at the time, tried to defend himself after his mother came to his bedroom with two knives.

“His whole world had changed,” defense attorney Mark C. Collins said in closing statements yesterday. “He had no other choice (but) to react. He was reacting to a threat.”

Lindsey said that his mother was angry about text messages he had received and he shut his bedroom door, a violation of her house rules.

He said that his mother posted a number of house rules and that if he disobeyed, he would be beaten or thrown outside.

His mother came into his room, angry and swinging the knives, he said. One snapped and broke. Lindsey said she pushed him to the floor, and they began to wrestle.

“I knew she was going to kill me at that point,” he said. “I knew she wasn't going to stop.”

Lindsey said Banner stabbed him in his right thigh. Then, Lindsey took the knife out of his mother’s hand and stabbed her. He told police the night of the incident that he stabbed her once or twice.

Forensic pathologist John S. Somerset testified in court yesterday that there were seven stab wounds in Banner's body— one punctured her lung and another bent the knife.

Assistant Prosecutor James Lowe said during questioning that Lindsey changed his story more than once and “adjusted” his answers to attorneys’ questions. “He lies, he manipulates, he schemes,” Lowe said about Lindsey’s testimony. “There is no doubt this was a purposeful killing.”

In court yesterday, Lindsey cried when he talked about his mother and said he couldn’t remember events from the day of the stabbing.

His grandmother, Banner’s mother, and aunts cried as they watched the proceedings in Lynch’s courtroom.

On the day of Banner’s death, Lindsey called 911 and said that that his mother had been stabbed. When Columbus police arrived at 3856 Chestnut Ridge Loop, Lindsey was waiting for them on the front stoop, and his mother was found dead in Lindsey’s bedroom upstairs.

Officer Dana Houseberg testified this week that Lindsey told officers when they arrived that he and Banner had argued but “he didn’t do anything to her.”

On the stand yesterday, he described his relationship with his mother as having “a lot of friction” and “tumultuous.”

A 17-year-old witness who rode the school bus with Lindsey told jurors that Lindsey had said multiple times that he wanted to kill his mother.

Before opening statements on Tuesday, Collins told Lynch outside the jury’s presence that, despite his urging to take a deal, Lindsey again had rejected a prosecution plea offer.

Details of that deal were not discussed in open court, but Lynch complimented Collins for what she said were his thorough efforts to resolve the case without going to trial.

“The court understands how hard you have worked on this,” she said.

Court documents show that Collins had argued late last year that Lindsey was not competent to stand trial, but Lynch ruled in April that he understood the proceedings and could aid in his own defense.

In a recorded statement, Lindsey told police the night of the incident that his mom had stabbed him with a fork, beat him multiple times and left him on the side of a freeway when he was 15 years old.